Princess in a New World
by KatLeePT
Summary: Emma's jealous of the new Prince. Spoilers!


He was just a baby. She shouldn't be bothered by him, but yet, she couldn't seem to help the growl of emotions that rose within her every time he gurgled and their parents crooned. He was just a baby. He didn't know what he was doing. He couldn't possibly know that he had been given the life she should have had with their family. He was an innocent, and yet still, with the more time their parents spent with him, the more jealous Emma became. She kept it well hidden, but her eyes flared every time she saw them cradling him.

They bought gifts for him, fancy gifts, extravagant gifts. They filled the nursery with every kind of toy imaginable and the most luxurious bedding a baby could have. Every woman in Storybrooke who knew how to knit knitted a baby blanket for the young Prince, and even Ruby spent time rocking his cradle while the Charmings were out buying more things for their little, boy bundle of joy.

Emma was just throwing back another shot when they entered their apartment one afternoon. "How is he?" was the first question out of Charming's mouth as Snow made a beeline for the nursery.

"Sleeping like a rock," Emma responded and instantly hated the pang of jealousy she felt. She hid her next shot in her coffee cup as her father brought in more bags.

She expected to slip out unnoticed while he tended to his heir, but instead, Prince Charming came to her. "Emma," he started softly after settling the plethora of bags down onto the counter, "I know we haven't been able to spend a lot of time together lately."

She shrugged, acting like she didn't, and believing she shouldn't, care. "You have a new baby. Neal needs your attention. I get it. It's not like I'm a child."

"That's just the thing, isn't it?" he said, watching her through eyes she suddenly hated for being so knowing. "You never really got to be a child, did you? And especially not a child with us. Your mother and I hate that we missed that time with you, and while we were shopping today, I kind of realized," he was growing sheepish but forced himself to continue, "that maybe some of this extra buying we've been doing for Neal is because we missed out on buying things for you."

He set a carefully wrapped parcel before her. "I, hum, I got this for you."

Unsure of what to expect, she studied him and easily recognized the darkening of his cheeks. "Is Prince Charming _blushing_?" she asked, putting her mug firmly down. She didn't need any more of what it had to offer; she shouldn't have drank so much to begin with.

"Y-Yeah." He chuckled nervously. "Go ahead," his request was almost a plea. "Open it. I, huh, I hope you like it."

Carefully, she peeled back the layers of wrapping until something began to glitter at her. Her surprise rapidly grew into shock as she finished unwrapping her present. "It's a tiara," she observed with amazement.

He nodded. "You would have had one long ago in our homeland if we hadn't lost you."

She gazed down at the glimmering jewels with tears welling in her eyes. Those last few words her father had spoken were filled with emotion. Tiaras might be useless, ridiculous trinkets in today's world, but the one before her spoke volumes. She wasn't the only one the loss of her childhood had hurt, and she really shouldn't be jealous of her new brother. Her parents would have doted upon her just as much if they'd ever had the opportunity. She swallowed hard.

"Do you like it?"

"It - It's a tiara. I'm never going to wear it." But yet, she wrapped it back up even more carefully than she had unwrapped it. "It would clash with everything I have." She turned to face her father, and her lame joke almost died in her throat as she saw the unshed tears also sparkling in his eyes.

"I-I can get you something else. Anything. Just name it."

She smiled, realizing again how much he loved her. "I love it," she said. "Thank you . . . Dad."

Then came the hug that Emma had needed for so long, and one of the few in her life that she would treasure forever far more greatly than any manmade possession she could ever have or be given.

Later that night, long after the rest of Storybrooke had retired for the evening and several hours after she'd said good night to her parents, to Hook, and to baby Neal and tucked her own child into bed, Emma sat alone in her bedroom, looking at her reflection in the mirror with the sparkling tiara on top of her head. She didn't know where they had found the gems, but she knew the Dwarves must have made her crown for no modern jewelry sparkled as greatly as it did.

Rising from her chair, she crossed her room while she tried to imagine what it would have felt like to have worn the tiara as an actual Princess back in what she deemed Fairy Tale Land. Audiences would have gasped and cheered her, but that's not what mattered. What would have mattered was the way her father and mother would have looked at her, how they would have cared for her, how her father had looked at her today, and how they did truly care for her.

Dropping onto her bed, Emma carefully removed her crown. She looked at it once more before laying down. It was beautiful, but she would never have cause to wear it in this world. Still, her heart sang as she drifted off to sleep with a smile on her lips and her tiara still glimmering on the pillow next to hers.

The End


End file.
